party politics

Lie down, breathe and try to realise that people are entitled to their opinion
"Saint haters" is just a daft term to use 

Totally agree that running a line is not easy and neither is refereeing, but week after week our "top" officials are not covering themselves in glory.
Simple things, like indicating a free-kick or throw-in with their arms (there were times last night I did not hear the whistle being blown for a foul) seems to be to much effort for them. Trudging up and down the middle of the pitch and never coming wide are my own personal pet hates. The guys in the middle in our league must be on around £1000 per match now, so they should go back to earning it.
Glad to see the club have appealed Bolton's straight red, as let's be honest McLean just wanted to follow his pal Robertson from the night before and go against the VAR recommendation.
 

Totally agree that running a line is not easy and neither is refereeing, but week after week our "top" officials are not covering themselves in glory.
Simple things, like indicating a free-kick or throw-in with their arms (there were times last night I did not hear the whistle being blown for a foul) seems to be to much effort for them. Trudging up and down the middle of the pitch and never coming wide are my own personal pet hates. The guys in the middle in our league must be on around £1000 per match now, so they should go back to earning it.
Glad to see the club have appealed Bolton's straight red, as let's be honest McLean just wanted to follow his pal Robertson from the night before and go against the VAR recommendation.
 

Form table shows (for the last ten games) 7 points out of 30 and 5 goals scored.  So a lot of room for improvement all over the pitch.

The lack of youth players getting a chance in the first team is concerning and it's pretty much been the case since Robinson came in. Whether that's because he doesn't rate them or they aren't ready/good enough I'll leave for others to debate because I know very little about the situation in the academy (not that lack of knowledge usually stops people having arguments online). Does anyone who knows about our youth teams know who is likely to be the next to come through? It is a bit of a surprise we found ourselves with no one to put in midfield on Tuesday, or have been playing guys out of position at right wing back rather than giving a young guy a shot. I'm guessing the guys we have in those positions either aren't deemed ready or are out on loan.
You'd have to imagine Reid and whoever we lost to Burnley (apologise, forgot his name) would have been involved by now if they had hung around. It's probably the first time we've been victims of losing kids who have barely kicked a ball for the first team because a bigger club is happy to spend relatively little in the hope they come good. There's not really much else we could have done with them. Henderson would maybe have been a bit more involved had he stayed and I'd have liked us to keep him and let someone like Olusanya go if we could find a taker, even if he has improved, but he obviously wanted more regular first team football, which he wasn't going to get with our system - and seemingly hasn't at County because of injury.
I think some of the kids got some game time in the League Cup. Since then, we've rarely been in a position to chuck the young guys on for some experience late on without any pressure to do something because most of our league games have been tight. I did find it odd we didn't put Jamieson on against St Johnstone (and we made a number of subs at 3-0), however he then got brought on against Hibs and has had some game time since then. Apart from him, I don't think we've had that many young players on the bench - I think Lennon was on it for one league game and away on loan shortly after.
It's a shame as since we sold Erhahon - and Robinson deserves a lot of credit for his progression, even though he was well established in the first team when he arrived - we haven't really had one of our youth products getting regular first team games and I can't remember the last time we have been in that position for as long as this. We had a great run of midfielders and you can draw a pretty much unbroken line from Erhahon back as far as you care to go - I'd traced it back to McLean, then remembered Stephen McGinn - and he broke through at pretty much the same time we sold Lappin (with Shuggy there the whole time!). And that's not forgetting guys in other positions who did well for us like Naismith, McAusland, Baird and Kelly, who were all good players even if they didn't get big moves.
Hopefully Taylor will get his shot, either this season or next. Going by his comments on the Open Goal podcast, Robinson really rates him - however given he joked he'd have liked to loan him to Barcelona for experience due to his style of play I don't think he would have been the answer on Tuesday night!

I disagree. I think he's handled Jamieson very badly. Flitting him on and out for no apparent reason when the lad did ok is, for me, more likely to demoralise and demotivate the player. And I'm NOT sharing my "wisdom". Like most on here, I'm merely giving my opinion which you seem to decry by giving your own words of "wisdom".. Or is that not allowed in your small world?

The lack of genuine opportunities for our academy players is a concern for me.  Yes one or two get a few cameos but precious few see any decent runs in the team.  
The model of bringing in “underperforming” players from lower leagues and hoping to turn them round to be sold for a profit seems to be to the detriment of our own youngsters. 

Unfortunately it would appear that amongst the dizzy echelons of the SPL, our management team do not consider that any of our promising youngsters are good enough to mix with the greats of Scottish football. Whereas, in the Premier League in England, a number of clubs have no such hesitation in blooding young players at the top level.
Against Celtic last night we were literally operating without a midfield - no tackles - no energy - no play making.
And up front we are still persevering with a toothless bought-in strikeforce.
St Mirren used to be a club who developed their own younger players - but that is the case no longer, despite having a good academy setup.

No argument from me, I was trying to be diplomatic!
Next stop Billericay Town or Solihull Moors would be my guess.

I understand why Flynn was chosen by Robinson for this game due to his experience but I’d rather have seen us not start Ryan and instead used Small or Dunne in defence and moved Gogic into midfield. 

Robbo has been very loyal with Ryan but I’m afraid to say it’s time for younger players to step forward.
I also felt that Lewis Jamieson should have started in place of Olusanya. 
Game was over after 6minutes which was a disaster that we have seen many times down the years. 
 

Game over in under 10 mins was very deflating. Brave move by the manager to play 2 up top but that decision left CBM and Flynn chasing shadows in the middle as they were ran over the top off by McGregor and O'Reilly for the whole of the first half.
I agree we need to get Gogic back into the middle of the pitch, I also don't think we need to play with 3 centre half's in all our games, as this puts all the pressure on the wing backs to deliver in every game. The loss of Strain in this position has certainly affected us recently in results and performance. If we do stick (which I am sure we will!) with the system hopefully Elvis will improve us on the right hand side.
Hopefully the manager can do some wheeling and dealing over the next few weeks and get a couple of fresh faces in. 
 
 

Decided to go for it. Unexpectedly been able to drag the wife up there with me for a stay in the Copthorne. A step up from my usual travelodge/premier inn. She's not going to the game. Maybe a good thing as the last one was a 4-1 hiding at Livingston. Ordered my ticket today and been assured any tickets, including mine will be taken up there and be able to pick up from the Aberdeen ticket office. Sod Xmas, I'm looking forward to my Aberdeen trip.

Another worrying performance, devoid of ideas all over the pitch. Even more worrying the manager keeps bleating on how we don't need to change anything. 
Does he not think that teams have now worked out how to play against us? Yet he sticks by the same old system week after week (albeit with different personnel). We have 6 or 7 options up front but being honest only 1 or 2 are fit to wear the shirt.
O'Hara's captain's armband must weigh him down as he is nowhere the player he was on his current form. Though we could give him some help in there by replacing one of the three stooges up front and put an extra player in there.
How about a good old fashioned 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 Robbo? As it cannot be any worse than the rubbish we have been served up since early October.

Agreed. Anywhere he fancies.

Another worrying performance, devoid of ideas all over the pitch. Even more worrying the manager keeps bleating on how we don't need to change anything. 
Does he not think that teams have now worked out how to play against us? Yet he sticks by the same old system week after week (albeit with different personnel). We have 6 or 7 options up front but being honest only 1 or 2 are fit to wear the shirt.
O'Hara's captain's armband must weigh him down as he is nowhere the player he was on his current form. Though we could give him some help in there by replacing one of the three stooges up front and put an extra player in there.
How about a good old fashioned 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 Robbo? As it cannot be any worse than the rubbish we have been served up since early October.

Another worrying performance, devoid of ideas all over the pitch. Even more worrying the manager keeps bleating on how we don't need to change anything. 
Does he not think that teams have now worked out how to play against us? Yet he sticks by the same old system week after week (albeit with different personnel). We have 6 or 7 options up front but being honest only 1 or 2 are fit to wear the shirt.
O'Hara's captain's armband must weigh him down as he is nowhere the player he was on his current form. Though we could give him some help in there by replacing one of the three stooges up front and put an extra player in there.
How about a good old fashioned 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 Robbo? As it cannot be any worse than the rubbish we have been served up since early October.

Another worrying performance, devoid of ideas all over the pitch. Even more worrying the manager keeps bleating on how we don't need to change anything. 
Does he not think that teams have now worked out how to play against us? Yet he sticks by the same old system week after week (albeit with different personnel). We have 6 or 7 options up front but being honest only 1 or 2 are fit to wear the shirt.
O'Hara's captain's armband must weigh him down as he is nowhere the player he was on his current form. Though we could give him some help in there by replacing one of the three stooges up front and put an extra player in there.
How about a good old fashioned 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 Robbo? As it cannot be any worse than the rubbish we have been served up since early October.

We just never got going today. Yes, the sending off and penalty pretty much defined the outcome but we were pretty poor. What has happened to O'Hara ? Olusanya tried hard but couldn't make the ball stick. Mandron looked like he couldn't be arsed doing anything. Not an enjoyable afternoon.

Sorry, but not buying that if he said that. Ryan was the best player on the park by a distance and was still looking the most composed player to create something on the break. 
Far to many players rushing and panicking on the numerous breaks we had towards the end of the game.
If we want to maintain our position or progress next season the whole left hand side pf the pitch needs to be upgraded.

Sorry, but not buying that if he said that. Ryan was the best player on the park by a distance and was still looking the most composed player to create something on the break. 
Far to many players rushing and panicking on the numerous breaks we had towards the end of the game.
If we want to maintain our position or progress next season the whole left hand side pf the pitch needs to be upgraded.

The result was disappointing  but in reality  it was the Kilmarnock  game  that scuppered  our chances of finishing  higher

Sorry, but not buying that if he said that. Ryan was the best player on the park by a distance and was still looking the most composed player to create something on the break. 
Far to many players rushing and panicking on the numerous breaks we had towards the end of the game.
If we want to maintain our position or progress next season the whole left hand side pf the pitch needs to be upgraded.

Sorry, but not buying that if he said that. Ryan was the best player on the park by a distance and was still looking the most composed player to create something on the break. 
Far to many players rushing and panicking on the numerous breaks we had towards the end of the game.
If we want to maintain our position or progress next season the whole left hand side pf the pitch needs to be upgraded.

I wish I shared your optimism, you refer to one time costs in your posts. Do you have any idea what these are or are you just falling in line with the statement issued by the Chairman/Club when the accounts were published. Ralston, imo, does not fall into a one time cost as there will also be repairs and maintenance needed, which any company worth their salt, would have a budget set aside every trading year for this. Perhaps you could enlighten me to these?
Very positive league performance - we are currently lying 6th and have just as much chance of finishing in 10th as we do of reaching 4th.
Attendances - Definitely on the rise, great that the club has a lot of different initiatives on the go. Hopefully there is a lot of full paying punters among this rise in attendance.
Multiple sellable assets - Remains complete conjecture, I would certainly not be running the business on that basis.
The manager - Doing a great job for the club but speculation does not pay the bills i'm afraid.
A loss of 1.6 million for a club of our size (whether on paper or in actual pound notes) is alarming and horrendous to say the least. I am struggling to see why there are not a lot more of our support concerned about this.
 

Happy New Year.
As a shareholder I have received a copy of the full accounts for May 2021 to May 2022. Over a stiff drink tonight I have noted the following points you may wish to consider. I will probably not comment further until after the AGM. There are a number of obvious questions that need to be asked and hopefully answered at the AGM. My accountancy skills are a bit rusty. Maybe I have misunderstood some of the important details – God, I hope that I have. I’m not going to waste time sparring with some of the childish regulars on here.

The cold facts are that the current board enriched with the financial “expertise” of our Kibble partners appear to have managed to turn a profit of around half a million pounds into a loss of 1.5 million pounds in short the space of 12 months. That in itself is quite an achievement.

The £1,598,506  loss divided by 365 days is £4379 a day. 

No doubt Covid will be blamed but you have to remember that the furlough scheme should have covered much of the wage bill and the government have loaned the club £1.7 million.

Even so the wage bill has gone from £2.8 million to £3.5 million. The number of players has gone from 37 to 39 but the number of management and admin staff has gone from 38 to 75. That is around two management and admin staff for every player. I presume (sincerely hope) there is a plausible explanation for this I just can’t think what it might be.

Importantly cash at the bank is down from £2.7 million in May 2021 to £972 thousand in May 2022 that is a reduction of about £145K a month. So what is the current cash balance?  Say 6 months of losses at £145 K is £870K. Take that away from the May 2022 figure of £972K and there is a lot to worry about. Possibly £100K left at present? I hope we can sell a couple of players to help the cash flow. 

Kibble claimed they would “bring our commercial expertise to St Mirren”. Perhaps that is the kind of expertise we could all have lived without.

Mention is made in the preceding narrative of “exceptional costs” but I cannot see any actual figures that directly relate to this statement. I assume this may partly be the rumoured very large cost overrun at Ralston but is hard to imagine what £1 million plus of “exceptional costs” could be.
You have to also ask why this financial situation has not been made very clear to SMISA members many months ago. After all they own most of the club.
PS To anyone quoting recent increased attendance at home games – please ask yourself how many of these are free tickets.

Now I think I need another drink.

See you all at the AGM.